My L Lens: 24-105

So one of the things I did right before taking a leave of absence from this blog is buy my first L series lens. I had been thinking about it for quite some time, and finally took the plunge and purchased one.

Nearly two grand later, I had it in my hand. The lens was quite heavy compared to any other lens I owned, but would it live up to my expectations of taking my photography from an “easy to afford by anyone hobby” to something I could truly enjoy and be proud of?

In short, not really. The lens, while amazing, doesn’t make me a better photographer. It does allow me a better opportunity to capture a clean image because it has a faster focus lock than most of my other lenses, but at the end of the day, I still have to position the camera, have the settings correct, and push a button to snap the image.

Do I think the lens was worth buying? Definitely. There are very few lenses that do a range comparable to what I purchased, and even less in the professional level. I’m very happy with the range this lens has, and it is pretty much always attached to my camera now unless I know I’ll need something longer before hand.

If I had gone with the 24-70mm lens, or the 17-55mm lens, I don’t think I would have been as happy, despite the performance power of those lenses, most of my pictures seem to be in the 40-100 range, and so I would have had to change lenses to capture one half to one third of my shots, potentially missing what I was hoping to capture, especially until I get more L-series glass to take pictures with.

My plan is to still get a 70-200mm L-series lens in the next year or so, but we will see how things play out. There is too much uncertainty in my life to say what will happen or where my money will be spent.

If you are on the fence about saving up to buy L-series lenses, I will say that the performance and image quality is a step above non-L glass, but the price is also a factor higher, and unless you have the skills required to really make the most of the high cost equipment, it really isn’t worth having.

I know that I’m not using the lens to its fullest and would have probably been almost as happy with a much cheaper 18-135mm lens.